22

Quite often we're in a spot where we can watch TV and though we are surrounded by locals, we are all watching USA news...we even hear about the weather in Michigan.  When in Michigan did I ever hear anything about Belize?  We have noticed this is true in many of the countries we have traveled.  No wonder they know so much about the USA...and we know so little about them.

21

We are back in San Ignacio and will meet up with Paula and Emmanuel tonight...sometime.  Our last couple days in Hopkins were slow, quiet & with hours of reading on the beach, listening to Garifuna drummers & travelling Argentinian musicians (who for 1 and 1/2 years have paid for their travels by performing in towns all over--nothing planned in advance--true troubadours!)  We also made delicious smoothies by freezing fresh pineapples, bananas & oranges & then adding a bit of cold water & putting it in the blender provided.  (we learned this from a local).  The pace here is s...l...o...w...almost everyone, even very small kids on bikes way too big for them, cruse at a very, very slow speed from place to place.  We wonder how they keep their balance going so slow on the rutted, rocky roads.  All the bikes are pedal and no hand brakes...and very old.  None of them look like they have even been washed.  Perhaps, like their buses, they are USA discarded ones also.  Imagine, if you took a wide angle shot of the homes on the gorgeous shoreline here...then cut it up into a jigsaw puzzle...you'd find that about every 30th piece would look like it did not fit in...29 would be run down old cabanas with yards littered with old frigs, stoves, useless boats and a trash pile 2 to 3' tall...then that 30th piece would be a gorgeous home/hotel with a well raked yard & beach.  Lucky for us, we spent 5 days on #30!!!

20

#20  (By Roger)
The local economy of Hopkins...this is a small shore town just south of Dangriga and it seems that many people here are doing okay. ..that is ...they eat, have decent clothing, send kids to school, even some paint their houses.  We have seen many people working various jobs:  security, waitress, bus drivers, bicycle rental & repair, banana delivery man, clerks, weavers, wood carvers, fishermen, librarians, teachers, house/hotel cleaners.  There are also many cooks...some in restaurants but many on the street preparing meatpies, conch fritters, buns, panades, pastries and even choc-coconut pies and then they send their kids around on their old bicycles carrying 5 gal pails filled with these items their mamas have prepared for them to sell.  It's good to see them helping their families.  We have also met children who immediately ask us for a shilling or dollar.  It is hard to say no to them as they are usually preschool age, cute and often appear to be needy...and beside a dollar is not much to us.  But that child will grow up and in a few years, I think, s/he will be asking for more than a dollar...and thinking why work if it isn't necessary?  It seems that a natural progression might turn that cute little kid into an adolescent to be savvy enough to know when and where to demand money from tourists...or others in their town.  I believe we,  tourist, need to encourage the kids who are helping their families and at the same time, discourage those who are begging.